Helpful
by Cobalite
Summary: Buffy meets a volunteer at the hospital who understands what she's going through. But there's something odd about this girl....


Author's Notes: Just don't ask, okay? I own nothing but Samantha, who's modeled after a friend of mine who's very sick.

Helpful By Cobalite Ice

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Tuesday, December 5, 2000

So it wasn't dark out yet, but there was sewer access to the hospital. He ended up in a storage room. "No non-hospital personnel allowed down here." He spun around. It was a young girl with dark hair. She held a clipboard, and had an annoyed look on her face. Suddenly, she seemed to have an idea. "How tall are you?"

"Why?" He wanted to stay on this kid's good graces so she wouldn't turn him in.

She pointed to a box just out of her reach. "Get me that, and I won't say I saw you coming in through the sewer." 

He couldn't reach it either. "Looks like I'm not much taller than you."

"It's alright."

"Thanks for keeping your mouth shut, luv. Can you tell me where patient information is?"

"Who are you looking for?"

"Joyce Summers." Spike expected directions to a desk.

"Neuro ICU. Room 321." She smiled at the shocked look on his face. "She's one of mine. When she wakes up, I'll be her errand girl. She gets way to many visitors for the nurses to handle. I haven't seen you before though. What's your name?"

"They call me Spike." He wondered why he felt compelled to talk to her.

"Her son?"

Spike laughed. "No. That would make my situation even sicker."

"Her boyfriend?"

"I'm a friend of her daughters. When we met, Joyce hit me with an ax, but she's pretty much forgiven me."

"Uh, yeah." She told him how to get to her room, and once again considered the shelf.

"Thanks for the info, Helpful." 

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Wednesday, December 6, 2000 

"Are you alright?" Buffy's head snapped up at the sound of a girl's voice. She was young, younger than Buffy, and seemed genuinely concerned.

"Yeah." She wiped away her tears. "It's been a rough week."

"I know the feeling. Welcome to the world of the Neurology Ward." She sat down. "I'm Sam."

"I'm Buffy." She shook the girl's hands. Buffy noticed she wore the uniform of a hospital volunteer "I thought you guys steered clear of this ward."

"I just came back from being sick, so we haven't met before. I requested being permanently assigned here. They need a gopher, and the people in this waiting room need someone who knows what it's like to be in that chair." Sam sat down next to her. "So, who's in there?"

"My mother." Buffy stared at the door to the ER. "Brian tumor."

"My mother has Multiple Sclerosis." Samantha looked at the clock. "I spent a lot of time in this room not too long ago, and everyone was too wrapped up in their own problems to notice me."

"Thanks for coming and sitting with me. My sister can't be here all the time, and sometimes I think Riley doesn't want to here about it." Buffy was grateful to have someone to talk to. 

"It's almost three. My father will be here to get me soon, and I have to run downstairs."

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Buffy knew she'd get no rest tonight. 

"I'm here Monday through Friday until three." Sam patted her shoulder. "It'll be alright."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

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Wednesday, December 13, 2000

"Have you gone home since I saw you yesterday?" Sam had suddenly appeared behind her.

Buffy visibly jumped. "Don't do that! You're so quiet. Kinda reminds me of Angel."

"Wouldn't want that." She sat down. "Have you seen Riley lately?"

"He's been avoiding me. The last guy I had dinner with was Spike, and that wasn't a particularly pleasant experience."
    
     "The cute blond guy who comes to visit your mother when you're not here? He's nice."

"Spike's been visiting my mother?" Buffy was astonished.

"Yeah, I met him before I met you. I thought he was her son. When I asked how they knew each other, he mumbled something about an ax." Sam had thought it odd at the time, but not now. 

"Stranger things have happened, especially here. She says you stopped by to visit today." The clock hit two fifty.

"She's a nice lady, and I told you everything would be okay. I have to go get ready to leave. I'll see you tomorrow." 

Buffy watched her go, heading towards the basement. The girl dropped in during her breaks, and made sure she knew what she was doing. Sam had even taught her how to do her mother's IV treatments. What was odd was that Buffy never heard her coming.

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Thursday, December 15, 2000

This was the first time she'd actually run into him here. "When she told me you were visiting, I almost didn't believe it."

"Yeah, well no one can make hot chocolate like your mum. Gotta make sure she stays in good condition, right?" Spike glanced around the waiting room. "Helpful off duty today?"

"It's after three, I couldn't get here any earlier. Mom's coming home, so I won't be around so much anymore. Maybe I should leave her a note." Buffy scribbled a short note, and her phone number.

"For a walking happy meal, she's pretty sharp." Spike walked over to the desk with her. "Left the sewer entrance open for me."

"I'd like to leave a message for one of your volunteers." Buffy handed her the note. 

"You should do this at the volunteer office." The nurse told her. "We don't have anyone right now to deliver it.

"That's alright. Sam can just pick it up when she comes in tomorrow."

"We don't have a Sam on duty today." The woman had a pained look on her face, as if remembering a distasteful memory. "In fact, we don't have a volunteer working in this section."

"I just talked to her." Buffy was confused.

The other nurse spoke up, she sounded a little choked up. "We did have a Samantha here, but that was a sometime ago. Right before she was supposed to go home one day, a doctor sent her to the basement to get some old reports. She wasn't tall enough and couldn't reach. She stepped on a lower shelf to reach it."

She started to cry, and the other nurse spoke again. "The shelf tipped over and pinned her. She was recovering from pneumonia, and the weight kept her lungs from expanding. She suffocated, just before three o'clock on December first. I'm sorry no one told you."

Spike and Buffy just stared at each other. Wordlessly, they headed down to the basement. Spike gave Buffy a boast, and she pulled the box down. Inside was a single sheet of paper, a diary entry. 

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Everything will be all right. I needed someone to tell me that once too, and no one did. The doctors say I'm not contagious, and I've started working at the hospital again. There's a new patient coming in soon, a woman named Joyce Summers. She kinda reminds me of my own mother. I'll keep an eye on her until she can go home.

Buffy swallowed. "She was a ghost."

"Bloody hell."

The girl that had once been Samantha walked up the basement stairs, carrying a box of paperwork. She placed it on a desk. "I'm gonna go home now, okay?"

"You go ahead, Samantha. I think you've been here long enough. You did a good job protecting Mrs. Summers."

"What are you?" She was already starting to fade.

"I'm an intern." Ben watched the ghost fade away.


End file.
